“The effects of money problems on people’s mental health are very large,” says financial psychologist Anne Abbenes. She has conducted various studies into the psychological health of people with money worries. “From the crisis in 2008, people have been monitored for years. We know from this and previous studies that people with persistent money worries are more likely to experience mental health problems.”
Pressure or stress?
According to Abbenes, there is a difference between financial pressure (for example, having sleepless nights for a while due to high bills) and financial stress. “With the latter, you can no longer pay many bills for a longer period of time. This stress can cause a weakened immune system, increased blood pressure, inflammation in the body or psychological complaints.”
In addition, there is an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders, says Abbenes. “The risk of disorders increases, which is a step further than psychological or mental complaints. In young people it can lead to a lowered self-image. The moment the debts have been paid off, the health problems have not disappeared. This is very severe, we shouldn’t underestimate it.”
Lack of control
The longer the situation in which prices remain unaffordable and money worries increase, the more severe the consequences for your health. “The core of the stress lies mainly in the lack of control over the situation, such as the persistently high energy prices. It is simply impossible to plan against this. You cannot spend money that is not there. That is why the government plans to take measures only in January, has a negative effect on health and ultimately costs society more money.”
The effect of financial problems on mental and physical health is therefore significant. But we all deal with money worries differently. According to Abbenes, this mainly has to do with how you learned to deal with money in your youth. “These are unconscious beliefs, created by how your parents behaved financially, but impactful events from the past also play a role. What your grandparents did can be passed down through generations.”
Emotional flood
With a money crisis or a threat of it, an emotional flood occurs in your brain and you go into a survival mode. As a result, people often react in an extreme way: one starts gambling, the other doesn’t spend anything at all, another has a ‘now it’s still possible, so long live the fun’ attitude. “It is relevant to ask yourself how money was handled in the family in the past and how you react to it now.”
As soon as something happens that causes money stress, Abbenes says it’s a good idea to ask yourself what your first inclination is to do; drink your worries away, gamble, crawl into your bed? “Often people freeze after they hear bad financial news. That stress takes time to subside, so sleep on it and then think: What would help me get out of this situation?”
According to Abbenes, what can help is to devise the ‘worst case scenario’. What’s the worst that could happen? You cannot pay your bill. And then? Then you can no longer pay your rent or mortgage. And then? Then you have to live with your parents. “Eventually, your brain realizes you’re not dying and you get out of crippling survival mode. Then you can sit back and make a spending plan.”
What is still possible?
Please don’t call it a budget plan, because according to Abbenes that has the same effect as a diet. “Food and money stimulate the same area in your brain. With a diet, people often think of limitations: the tasty things are not allowed. That’s how it works with a budget plan. With a spending plan you look at what is possible. That helps better.”
It also helps to discuss financial difficulties with friends and family. “It can happen to anyone. One gets financial problems after a divorce, the other after the death of a partner. Now it happens to many people at the same time because of the high energy bills. There is a lot of recognition and it can therefore help to be honest with your friends saying that big expenses are not going to go away for a while. This reduces the shame and you get the realization that it is normal how you feel.”
‘We have to be alert’
Hard-to-pay debts can lead to depression, anxiety, alcohol problems and other mental illnesses, according to a large-scale population survey published by the Trimbos Institute in 2021. After three years, mentally healthy people with difficult debts are three times more likely to have mental illness than people without money worries. People who already had a mental illness before the debts arose, recover more poorly. After three years, they are four times more likely to still have a mental illness than people without deep debts. It concerns depression disorders, anxiety disorders and substance addiction, can be read in the research.
“In addition, we must not forget that suicide rates can increase in a financial crisis,” says researcher at the Trimbos Institute Derek de Beurs. During the recession in 2008, the number of suicides increased by 5 percent per year. “Now there are also many bankruptcies and financial worries. These are predictors of psychological problems. That is why we have to pay close attention to the people around us, especially middle-aged men in financial difficulties. This group is then extra vulnerable.”
Source: Trimbos Institute
Worrying moments and sleeping problems
Lidewy Hendriks, psychologist at MIND Kor Relatie, also notices an increase in stress-related complaints due to financial problems in the conversations with clients. “Obviously there are different types of stress and complaints, depending on the size of the problems.”
First of all, there are people who don’t have any problems yet, but expect that their piggy bank will soon run out due to the much media attention. “This can cause worry moments and sleeping problems. It can help not to think in doomsday scenarios or to panic because of what is written and the stories of others, but to list the facts for yourself. What are the risks that you walk yourself? How realistic are they? How far can it go? If you worry a lot and therefore sleep badly, it is important to set the moments that you worry to fixed short moments in the day. At those moments you can focus on finances. Other times are for nicer things.”
Panic situations
Then there is a group of people with bills so high that they are taxed and panic situations arise. “The trick is not to panic and convert that energy into a resolving power: do you have to leave the car? Can you take the bus to work?”
Relaxation exercises can also help. “Just like – and this may sound cliché – doing fun things. Try to make sure that you don’t go too far above the optimal stress level, at which you can still function well and think clearly. You need that in order to be able to come up with creative solutions invent.”
Sadness, anger or frustration
For the group that is really having a hard time and has lost everything, Hendriks applies a method that focuses on mourning. “People feel sadness, anger or frustration. It is super hard to deal with the loss of home and hearth, because you cannot change the facts and that often reflects on the self-image. Good guidance and support in processing the losses , can then help and is important to prevent depression or other longer-lasting mental health problems.”